1.30pm update

Man shot dead in Belfast

A man shot dead in Belfast today may have been the victim of the escalating feud between rival loyalist paramilitary gangs. He was gunned down outside a bookmaker's shop on the city's Crumlin Road.

A second man was also hit and was taken to the nearby Mater Hospital suffering from wounds to his stomach.

According to unconfirmed reports, the dead man was linked to the Ulster Defence Association which is involved in a bitter feud with the Ulster Volunteer Force.

Both sides had earlier warned that people would be killed unless the fighting stopped.

The dead man was sitting in a car outside the bookmaker's shop when he was
shot.
The wounded man may have been hit up to four times, according to eyewitnesses.

Violence erupted between the two sides in the neighbouring Shankill Road area on Saturday when seven men were injured after
UDA gunmen twice sprayed a bar during and after a big loyalist paramilitary rally which they claimed was attacked by the UVF.
Later homes belonging to members and supporters of the Progressive Party, the UVF's political wing, were attacked.

Earlier today John White of the Ulster Democratic Party, the UDA's political wing, called for the appointment of a go-between to try
to negotiate an end to the feud, but today's shooting is likely to quash hopes of an immediate truce.

Last night Peter Mandelson, the Northern Ireland
secretary, called for an RUC
report into the spate of incidents in
loyalist areas of Belfast and appealed to loyalist
paramilitaries to end the violent attacks
and the destruction of property.